


Julie Molina and the witching hour

by Drhair76



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, F/M, Gen, M/M, Minor Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Protective Alex (Julie and The Phantoms), Protective Julie Molina, and she loves everyone in her life, julie is the SUN, julie's magic goes crazy around the people she loves, she's also badass, so her magic is ALWAYS going crazy, yeah she saves willie. just cause i said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27359506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drhair76/pseuds/Drhair76
Summary: "You're magic." Reggie says in awe. "True genuine magic."Julie smiles a little, rocking on her heels. The sun caresses her hair, lighting up the hallway. "I think we're magic."All three boys grin widely and Julie feels them settle right next to her heart like they've always been there.
Relationships: Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 31
Kudos: 347
Collections: JATP Appreciation Week





	Julie Molina and the witching hour

**Author's Note:**

> me, vibrating at the speed of light: magic au, magic au, magic au-

When Julie first meets them, they say witch and it makes her blood run cold. 

In hindsight, it's irrational- they just met her and she hasn't done a stitch of magic in almost a year. There's no way they could know. _Maybe_ there are chairs on her ceiling but that wasn't her! That was just regular old carpentry. Just plain boring nuts and bolts. 

She doesn't think it's a coincidence though, three ghosts showing up in her mom's old studio and the first thing they think of her is _witch._

She tells them to get out and goes to dinner because what else can she do? 

…

When Julie was young, her mother would take her anywhere there was music. 

They went to the instrument shops and Julie would sit on her lap and hit the keys on the piano, they went to Carrie's house and listened to Mr. Wilson's mixes, they went to all the concerts and gigs and open mic events they could find. 

She loved it and for good reason- how many mothers could make magic out of the music that played? How many mothers could make dahlias blossom with their voice? How many mothers could shift the winds as they dance to melodies? 

Julie used to say her mom was magic and she was never kidding. 

After her death, Julie couldn't even look at a piano without seeing her spinning in the air beside it. She couldn’t even hear a strum of a guitar without feeling the ghost of her forehead kisses. 

And of course, once the music stopped, so did the magic. 

…

Luke looks at her with big pleading eyes, vulnerable and honest and something inside Julie swells. 

"Music has the power to move people, connect them," He says, and Julie thinks of her mom and her dad linking hands. A witch and a human dancing together like they share the same soul. "That is a gift that no musician would _ever_ give up." 

Julie thinks of sitting down at a piano and feeling cold, of remembering her mom and feeling nothing but numb, of hearing a chord and feeling like her insides were getting squeezed. 

She almost says no, but then she thinks of three ghosts desperately clawing to get back that warmth and light that music brings. 

She thinks of the song on the piano and her mom's delicate handwriting. The leftover glow of magic in the studio from the last time mom was there. 

"Okay." She says, hoping she doesn't regret this. "I guess you guys can stay in the studio. Just...don't haunt my family." 

They all grin and Julie _swears_ she hears one of them say, _no promises!_

…

Touching the keys is like coming home. It’s like sliding into a sweater that the thought she lost or walking into an old friend’s home- she follows the movements without a thought, and the music flows like a river. 

Julie sings and lets herself fall into those moments- the time her mother spun around the kitchen with Julie on her toes and silverware floating and dancing above them, the time that she made the wind blow to get Carlos his homerun, the time she drew stars on Julie’s bedroom ceiling with her finger. 

Remembering hurts but there’s also something underneath the pain that pushes her along. She can do it- everyone in her life believes in her, Flynn, Carlos, dad, Ms. Harrison. Her mom knew she’d be able to do it. She left this music sheet here, tinged with her magic, just for Julie. 

So Julie sings and sings and sings. The sun breaks through, lighting the whole room in a golden glow, and Julie can feel the plants awaken, those baby buds blossoming for her, and it feels like her mom is right alongside her, watching with a proud toothy smile.

…

She walks through Luke absently, not really expecting him to be _right_ behind her and stops. 

Passing through him is not the way she _thought_ it would be. The things she's learned about ghosts are minimal but something consistent was how _cold_ they'd be. Every book, every website says that the dead that haunt the earth would be freezing. 

But walking through Luke warmed Julie from the inside out, like walking through a summer shower. 

She turns, surprised, and he looks just as shocked. 

"You-" He blinks. "You feel so...zingy." 

Julie squints then moves on to finish her sandwich. "I don't think zingy is a word." 

"I think it is." He says. "You feel- electric. Powerful. Like a lightning strike." 

Julie hums. "Flattery will not get you any ghost food." 

Luke snorts and Julie grins and the sun filtering in through the window glows a little bit brighter. 

…

Julie can tell from the _one_ performance with them that this is what she's supposed to be doing. 

Her magic is everywhere, making her spin around the stage like a tornado. She can _feel_ her connection with the boys like three strings tugging in her chest, pulling her towards them and pulling them towards _her._

Luke walks through her again and Julie feels that summer shower warmth all the way down to her toes. 

She holds the note and the boys back her up, harmonizing perfectly and her blood crackles like lightning. 

…

"You're magic." Reggie says in awe. "True genuine magic." 

Julie smiles a little, rocking on her heels. The sun caresses her hair, lighting up the hallway. "I think _we're_ magic." 

All three boys grin widely and Julie feels them settle right next to her heart like they've always been there. 

…

Alex prompts her magic to make flowers bloom, like daisies popping up in the snow or magnolias opening at the first hint of sun. He’s the steady beat under her feet and the gentle wind that ruffles her hair. A personified spring afternoon, sweet and slow. If Julie asked him for advice, he’d be able to give it. If Julie needed reassurance, he’d give it readily. 

Reggie makes her feel like fireworks, bright and loud and jumping up and down on a trampoline on a summer night. The smell of gunpowder and the thrill of excitement that comes with those huge pops of color across a dark, clear sky. Julie feels like if she turns her back, Reggie will watch it. Julie feels like if she needed him, he'd materialize out of thin air to help her.

Luke makes her shimmer inside, like rain drops falling onto red-hot asphalt or water hitting the stove-top. He's the storm and the fire all mixed up into one chord. He’s passion popping and steaming, the warmth from the oven in the middle of winter. Julie knows that she could fall to pieces in front of him and he'd just catch her. That she could bare her soul to him and he'd apply a soothing balm. 

They open her up, clear her senses. When she goes downstairs for breakfast her dad smiles at the sun she brings. When she gets to school Flynn picks dandelions out of her hair with a laugh. Nick comments on the dew drops sparkling in her hair during dance practice and Julie just twirls. 

She's got her music, her magic, and her boys, what else does she really need? 

…

She makes the decision when she wakes up that morning. 

By the end of the school day she's staring at Luke's parents' front door, nervously fiddling with her sleeves. She doesn't know if she's overstepping but she really wants Luke, her firestorm, her inspiration, part one of her three sources of power, to stop hurting. 

Because she can feel it in the lull. When they write together he’s downcast, shoulders heavy, all his movements slow. The days that Julie wakes from dreams where her mother is singing, she feels weighted, pulled down. That same weight is mirrored in Luke. He probably thinks he has her fooled but his tunnel-vision focus on music can only go so far to hide his bone-deep grief. 

Luke pops in next to her, shocking her out of her thoughts. She didn’t pull him, so he must be here on his own. 

"Julie?" He asks, his voice coming out in a croak. "What are you doing here?" 

And she may be nervous but seeing his red rimmed eyes and shifting nervous stance makes something in her firm. 

"Trust me, okay?" 

…

"Oh you're _in love_ in love." Flynn says, leaning on the piano, one eyebrow raised. 

Julie stops absently hitting the keys and makes a face. "I don't know what you're talking about." 

Flynn rolls her eyes. "Uh huh. You know, I was wondering how a witch and a human was going to make it work, but then you had to go and fall for a ghost. I don't even want to _try_ to touch that." 

Julie sighs, dropping her face so it's against the cool piano. If she spends too long thinking about Luke she'll start a fire in the next door science room again. 

"He's air, honey." Flynn says after a moment. "Worse than air, he's _dead._ You're not going to get much anywhere with him." 

Julie looks up, her heart stretching three sizes. She thinks of Luke's eyes when she handed over Unsaid Emily, wet and wide, nervous. She thinks of the way he sits close as they write, how she'll pass through him and he'll shiver pleasantly at her _zingy-ness_ and get the dumb smile on his face. 

"We connect in more ways than touch Flynn." She says. "My magic likes him. I can tell." 

"Oh yeah, so can I." Flynn smirks, reaching over to pick a rose bud out of her curls. "You're getting flower petals all over the practice room floor. Come on, let's get you back to dance class miss heartsick." 

…

They perform at her house and Julie feels free, sky high, spinning on air. 

She makes butterflies come to life in pulses of purple light and the stars on the ceiling shake and shimmer. She feels it- this band is destined for greatness- they’re all on the brink, just about to free fall and tumble into what they were made for. 

...

But then Luke's flashing and flickering and his whole face is twisted in pain and the only thing Julie can do is _watch._

"What- what's going on? Are you alright?" In her mind she desperately feels through the things she's read about ghosts and phantoms. Nothing she's seen ever mentioned this. “What’s happening?” 

He braces himself against the porch and looks at her, eyes panicked. "We don't have a lot of time." 

Somewhere, distant thunder crackles but Julie doesn't pay it any mind in favor of uselessly trying to touch his shoulder. He shudders, but some color flows back into his face. It's enough for him to stand up all the way. 

"Julie." He whispers. "I have something to tell you." 

...

Flynn is dependable, solid. The warm rock that her sun can cast shadows onto. Julie texts her and she shows up within minutes, her eyes sad. 

She listens as Julie vents, as Julie throws her hands out and warps the shadows on her bedroom walls, as she makes the wind howl outside of her window, as she stews in the fact that her _light, her joy, her music,_ is getting taken from her _again._

She listens and listens and listens and once Julie is finally done, Flynn clears her throat. 

"Look, Julie, you know I love you." Julie nods slowly, not liking how this is starting. "But they're ghosts. They couldn't stay forever. You knew that. I know you knew that. And I know that you love them but- life isn't fair. Sometimes we have to say goodbye to the ones that we love before we're ready. I know that you know _that_ better than most." 

Julie's eyes flicker down to her bedsheets, thinking of desperate nights in the hospital holding her mother's freezing hand, chanting every healing spell she knew in hopes that something, _anything_ would change. 

"Yeah, but-" 

"Jules," Flynn reaches forward and clasps Julie's hands. "Nothing lasts forever. You have to let them go. It's for their own good." 

Julie inhales shakily, holding Flynn's hands tight, tight, tight. Flynn doesn't even flinch- she's solid rock, sturdy stone. When Julie is finally able to pull away there's a small gem in her hands, courtesy of Julie compressing her magic and trying to pull herself together. 

Flynn smiles and pockets it, the same way she pockets every little trinket that Julie’s given over the years they’ve known each other. “You’ve got this.” 

Julie nods. “I’ve got this.” 

...

She slams the studio door open, ignoring the sharp pulse of pain at seeing her boys laying there so dejected. She has a terrible habit of grieving too early, missing things while they're still here. She's not doing that now. 

"Snap _out_ of it." She snaps, sending a little rumble through the ground. Alex jerks and falls, then looks at her with wide, wide eyes. "We are _going_ to get into the Orpheum, we are going to save your ghost butts and you are going to cross over." 

That fire in Luke's eyes stays dim though. "How? Do you know how long it took us to get there when we were alive?" 

"Yeah, we don't even have _bodies_ now." Reggie sighs. "And we've been dead for twenty-five years. What favors could we even call in?" 

Julie crosses her arms over her chest, puffing up with power. "You don't need favors. You have me. And I have a plan."

…

"Give this to Willie when you see him."

Julie places the dahlia pin down on the table so Alex can pick it up. He does, and nearly drops it in shock. 

"Ow. Julie, wha-" 

"Make sure you give it to him." She repeats firmly. "It will help." 

Alex looks at it for a moment, no doubt feeling the _zing_ that Julie charmed it with. No doubt sensing all the protective charms that she cast over it. 

"Julie…" He says slowly, something like light coming into his eyes. "You…" 

"-are magic?" She guesses. "A little bit." 

Alex chuckles, his expression softening. "I wish I could hug you right now." 

Julie pauses, a well of emotion pulsing through her. She shakes it off though. She needs to let them go. 

"Hug Willie for me." She says, her wind blowing hard enough to ruffle Alex's hair. 

He inhales, his eyes fluttering shut, swaying in the only version of a hug she can give him. She hopes he hears it, the _i love you guys_ threaded into the gusts. 

…

She stumbles into the alleyway, blinded by her own tears. 

She was too _late._ She didn't save them. She didn't help them. 

Julie has all the magic in the world at her fingertips and yet she still can't keep the people that she loves the most safe. 

She doesn't want to go back to before- cold and numb, empty and hollow- she loved the snap crackle that Reggie brought, the crisp clean that Alex held, the bright flicker that Luke gave. 

She wants to hold on to the warmth that her mother passed to her, that ... _zing_ that they share. 

A woman hands her a bright red dahlia as she walks by and it blooms under Julie's hands. 

Julie wipes her tears and sets her jaw. She'll make her music _for_ her boys. _For_ her mom. _For_ herself. 

…

She tugs at those strings connecting her to her boys as she sings because she still can. A reminder that just because they're gone, doesn't mean their memory is. She still has their connection just like she still has her mom's magic flowing through her veins. 

When Alex shows up, drums and all, looking ruffled but grateful, Julie's sweet relief makes vines and bellflowers curl along his drumset- a silent _stay with me._

Reggie comes next, a flash of light and Julie wants to cry. He's grinning and his bassline rumbles through her chest and down into the ground, shifting the earth. 

Luke flickers, looking pained and she _tugs._ He may be air, but he's her air. These are her ghosts and Caleb _cannot_ have them. She sings harder, moving the winds, curling the clouds, letting the light break through. 

He flickers only one more time before he's solid, standing tall, smiling big. 

Julie rushes to stand, unable to help herself, hopping to the beat, to the rumble that she made. She feels like a lightning bolt, like a thunderstorm, charged and jumping with repressed energy. 

Luke catches her eye and she knows that he can feel it too. That he can feel her spark. 

...

She visits the studio to say goodbye because it's what she should have done for her mom. 

Julie takes a breath. "You guys...you guys did so much for me. More than you’ll ever know. You- you helped me find my light. Thank you so much.” 

There’s a pause and she’s about to turn away when she feels that tugging in her chest- this time coming from the other side of the string.  _ Reggie.  _

“You’re welcome.” His voice comes out from the middle of the darkness sounding weak and shaky. Julie jolts then turns the light on with a flick of her wrist. 

They’re all piled together on the floor, holding on to one another like they can’t bear to be any other way. 

“What-” Julie chokes, blinking rapidly. “No, you- you were supposed to cross over, why didn’t you cross over?” 

Alex meets her eyes as he heaves himself off the floor and Julie instantly knows. She calculated wrong. The Orpheum wasn't what they were meant to do. She's going to lose them and she has to watch. 

"Julie-" Reggie starts but he's cut off by that flash of light and suddenly they're all groaning in pain. 

"No, no." She gasps. "No, please just- just go join the club.  _ Please.  _ Do what he says. At least then you'll be safe, I just need you to be  _ safe."  _

Luke steps forward, his face set with determination, his eyes earnest, and Julie feels that sizzle-spark of boiling water, that unrelenting rain shower on a hot day. "Julie, no music is worth making if we're not making it with you. No regrets." 

Julie stares at him, remembering when the roles were reversed. When he was begging her to let them stay, looking at her with big pleading eyes, clawing for that warmth. 

That same swell of emotion catches her and she can't stop herself from tackling him, throwing her arms around him and squeezing tight. He stiffens and jerks the same way he always does when she passes through him, but this time he holds on, clutching her back just as tight. 

Her magic is going crazy, pinging and shooting and building up little lightning storms in her belly but she ignores it. "I love you guys." She breathes. 

Luke inhales sharp and Julie pulls away, worried that he's getting another jolt. Instead he looks better, like that time on her porch. 

"I- I feel stronger." He says slowly. He gently brushes his thumbs over Julie's face. "Your magic...I can feel it." 

"You can feel it?" She asks. She thinks about how her mom would spend all day in Carlos's room when he was sick and he'd come out looking refreshed and alive again. "Reggie, Alex, come."

They don't hesitate. Reggie fits on her right side, sliding an arm around her back and Alex comes to her left, his arm hooking around her shoulders. She pulls them all close and squeezes her eyes shut tight, letting her magic run loose over them. 

She tugs on those little strings in her chest and she feels them tug back, stronger now. They pull away and the purple shimmer of Caleb's stamp dissipates into the air. 

As soon as it's gone the air feels lighter, sweeter, more breathable. Julie didn't realize just how stifling Caleb's presence was until it's completely gone. Almost immediately little green clovers pop up in Alex's hair and the butterflies on Reggie's suit jacket flap their wings. 

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Reggie asks, looking from Julie to Luke with wide eyes. 

"The band is back." Luke says. "We're staying with you Jules." 

Julie sighs shakily and then pulls them all in tighter. It's the middle of the night but Julie feels the sun shining through her, warming her from the inside out. 

_ They made it,  _ she thinks, she _ made it.  _ And Julie swears she can feel her mom right there, bouncing along in celebration with them. 

**Author's Note:**

> not me making Julie's lighting magic refill the boys after caleb's little shock stamp took all their electricity....not ME ! my brain is so POWERFUL JWODKDKDK


End file.
